R5S SHOOTOUT - Johnson grabs pole; Rat implodes
9/6/2001 13:20 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Shell Helix racer Steven Johnson will start from pole position in this afternoon’s opening GMC 400 encounter after his team-mate imploded with pole in sight.
The feat is Johnson’s first-ever Shell Series pole position; achieved after clocking a 1:43.87 minute hot lap starting second last in the qualifying shootout.
Radisich, who was more than half a second quicker than the rest of the field in yesterday’s qualifying and this morning’s warm-up, lost control of his Falcon in front of old Parliament House. He aborted his run after the spin to finish more than a minute outside his qualifying mark.
"The back end kicked out and there was no chance of saving it so all I was concerned about was keeping it off the wall," Radisich said.
After spotting Radisich’s afflicted Falcon on a track-side screen, Johnson charged towards the line to record the fastest third-sector time of the weekend.
"It was a really exciting lap from inside the car," Johnson said. "I really wanted to crack it for a pole after having a few seconds and to do it here, at a tough street circuit like this, is very satisfying."
Johnson will share the front row with Canberra debutant Marcos Ambrose, who was just five one-hundredths slower in the Stone Brothers-prepared Pirtek Falcon.
The second row is another all-Ford affair, after Glenn Seton consolidated his third position and Steven Ellery jumped into fourth.
Mark Skaife was the fastest gun for Holden in fifth, ahead of K-Mart Racing’s Todd Kelly and Ford’s Craig Lowndes.
Morris failed to capitalise on his Friday pace, shuffled back to unlucky 13th in the shootout.
Meanwhile, John Faulkner is heading home after terminally injuring his Commodore in this morning’s warm-up. Faulkner’s shunt held up proceedings for more than 45-minutes as officials repaired the concrete barriers.
The first 25-lap race is scheduled for 2:30pm this afternoon.
**TOP FIFTEEN SHOOTOUT**
1st STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [1:43.8738min]
2nd MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon [1:43.9260]
3rd GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [1:44.0948]
4th STEVEN ELLERY (Super Cheap Auto Racing) - AU Falcon [1:44.2596]
5th MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:44.3167]
6th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:44.3904]
7th CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon [1:44.4893]
8th STEVEN RICHARDS (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [1:44.5839]
9th GARTH TANDER (Valvoline Cummins Repco Team) - VX Commodore [1:44.6413]
10th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1:44.7216]
11th CAMERON McCONVILLE (Lansvale Smash Repairs) - VX Commodore [1:45.1435]
12th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Race Team) - VX Commodore [1:45.4871]
13th PAUL MORRIS (Big Kev Racer) - VX Commodore [1:45.5590]
14th CAMERON McLEAN (Greenfield Mowers Racing) - AU Falcon [1:48.0227]
15th PAUL RADISICH (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [2:45.9116]
For complete warm-up/shootout results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?10/06/2001.CANB
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